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Steve Martin
Steve Martin is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer, and writer. History Early Life Martin was born on August 14, 1945,[3][4] in Waco, Texas,[5] the son of Mary Lee (née Stewart; 1913–2002) and Glenn Vernon Martin (1914–1997), a real estate salesman and aspiring actor.[6][7] Martin was raised in Inglewood, California, with brother Fred and sister Melinda Martin, and then later in Garden Grove, California, in a Baptistfamily.[8] Martin was a cheerleader of Garden Grove High School.[9] One of his earliest memories is of seeing his father, as an extra, serving drinks onstage at the Call Board Theatre on Melrose Place. During World War II, in the United Kingdom, Martin's father had appeared in a production of Our Town with Raymond Massey. Expressing his affection through gifts, like cars and bikes, Martin's father was stern, and not emotionally open to his son.[10] He was proud but critical, with Martin later recalling that in his teens his feelings for his father were mostly ones of hatred.[11] Martin's first job was at Disneyland, selling guidebooks on weekends and full-time during his school's summer break. That lasted for three years (1955–1958). During his free time, he frequented the Main Street Magic shop, where tricks were demonstrated to patrons.[10] While working at Disneyland, he was captured in the background of the home movie that was made into the short-subject film Disneyland Dream, incidentally becoming his first film appearance. By 1960, he had mastered several magic tricks and illusions and took a paying job at the Magic shop in Fantasyland in August. There he perfected his talents for magic, juggling, and creating balloon animals in the manner of mentor Wally Boag,[12]frequently performing for tips.[13] In his authorized biography, close friend Morris Walker suggests that Martin could "be described most accurately as an agnostic ... he rarely went to church and was never involved in organized religion of his own volition".[14] In his early 20s, Martin dated Melissa Trumbo, daughter of acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Career In 1967, his former girlfriend Nina Goldblatt, a dancer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, helped Martin land a writing job with the show by submitting his work to head writer Mason Williams.20 Williams initially paid Martin out of his own pocket. Along with the other writers for the show, Martin won an Emmy Award21 in 1969, aged 23.10 He also wrote for John Denver (a neighbor of his in Aspen, Colorado, at one pointneeded), The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Martin's first TV appearance was on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hourin 1968. He says: During these years his roommates included comedian Gary Mule Deer and singer/guitarist Michael Johnson.23 Martin opened for groups such as The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (who returned the favor by appearing in his 1980 television special All Commercials), The Carpenters, and Toto. He appeared at San Francisco's The Boarding House, among other venues. He continued to write, earning an Emmy nomination for his work on Van Dyke and Company in 1976. In the mid-1970s, Martin made frequent appearances as a stand-up comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,22 and on The Gong Show, HBO's On Location, The Muppet Show,24 and NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL). SNL's audience jumped by a million viewers when he made guest appearances, and he was one of the show’s most successful hosts.10 Martin appeared on 27 Saturday Night Live shows and he guest-hosted 15 times, bested only in number of presentations by host Alec Baldwin (who has hos ted 17 times as of February 2017). On the show, Martin popularized the air quotes gesture, which uses four fingers to make double quote marks in the air.25 While on the show Martin became close with several of the cast members, including Gilda Radner. Radner died of ovarian cancer on May 20, 1989; a visibly shaken Martin hosted SNL that night and featured footage of himself and Radner together in a 1978 sketch. In the 1970s, his TV appearances led to the release of comedy albums that went platinum.10 The track "Excuse Me" on his first album, Let's Get Small (1977), helped establish a national catch phrase.10 His next album, A Wild and Crazy Guy (1978), was an even bigger success, reaching the No. 2 spot on the U.S. sales chart, selling over a million copies. "Just a wild and crazy guy" became another of Martin's known catch phrases.10 The album featured a character based on a series of Saturday Night Live sketches where Martin and Dan Aykroyd played the Festrunk Brothers; Yortuk and Georgi were bumbling Czechoslovak would-be playboys. The album ends with the song "King Tut", sung and written by Martin and backed by the "Toot Uncommons", members of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. It was later released as a single, reaching No. 17 on the U.S. charts in 1978 and selling over a million copies.1026 The song came out during the King Tut craze that accompanied the popular traveling exhibit of the Egyptian king's tomb artifacts. Both albums won Grammys for Best Comedy Recording in 1977 and 1978, respectively. Martin performed "King Tut" on the edition of April 22, 1978, of SNL. Decades later, in 2012, The A.V. Club described Martin's unique style and its impact on audiences: Personal Life Roles Filmography Discography Category:People Category:Males Category:1940s births Category:Actors Category:Living People Category:Americans Category:Producers Category:Comedians Category:Musicians Category:Writers Category:American Actors Category:1945 births Category:People from Texas Category:American Musicians Category:Humans Category:Actor